Entrepreneurship 3: Services Rendered
by Maevenly
Summary: Epilogue to Entrepreneurship 1 and 2. It's easier for Kara to say 'thank you' with actions, rather than words. But after learning what he and Helo did in her name, maybe Lee will hear those words as well. LK goodness...


**Entrepreneurship Three **

**Services Rendered**

Bsg Xxx Bsg

Something was up.

She knew it.

She could tell by the way Lee had been swallowing his lips for the past week. Not to mention the silent communication that had been taking place between her best friend and her best friend. Helo had been acting odd as well – scanning the inter-ship inventory rosters more closely than usual was the biggest give-away. When a very efficient officer double-checks his clipboard and looks pissed over the fact that everything was accounted for, that constitutes a 'flag' on 'the play' in her 'book'. And she'd played on enough fields to know what to look for.

Lying on a creeper, her hands buried inside the underbelly of her Viper, she shifted her attention back to the line of tubing threaded between her fingers. The best way to figure out what was going on was by not dwelling it. Bleeding out the line so that she wouldn't get sprayed with the coolant, she pursed her lips. After all, all she had to do was let her mind wander over the 'why' and the 'what' that would put Helo and Lee on the same 'mission' and go from there.

Didn't these men know by now that there wasn't anything they could keep from her?

Bsg Xxx Bsg

_Three days later… _

The rec-room was more or less quiet. Out of respect to those trying to do their paperwork, the Triad table was fairly subdued. Antes were upped, calls were made, but voices were pitched low.

Sitting in a chair with her feet comfortably propped up against another and tucked away in corner of the room, Kara sighed over the file folder in front of her. She had been at it for a while now and at this point she doubted if anyone remembered she was even in the room. She had seen Karl come in and sit down at the card game, but just by glancing at him, she could tell his heart wasn't in it. A sudden flash of insight told her that he was only there to kill time. Whatever that meant. Not wanting to attract attention, she busied herself by sifting through the Nugget Evaluations that were due the next day.

She wasn't so involved in what she was doing that she missed seeing Lee pause at the hatchway or miss hearing him clap his hand against the metal door to get Helo's attention. Keeping her head down and not moving her pen from where it was resting against her lower lip, a sidelong look was all she needed to see Karl's head snapping to where Lee was standing and folding his hand immediately. Leaving the table, both men exchanged a terse nod and headed to the right. Listening as the sounds of their boots fell away, she refocused on her notes and made herself a deal.

As soon as she finished, she was finding out what they were up to.

Xxx Bsg Xxx

All in all, it didn't go as badly as it could have. It could've been a lot worse. The Iolus wasn't as bad as The Prometheus, but it wasn't a jaunt to The Rising Star either. If there was a 'white-collar' black market in the Fleet, it was on The Iolus.

It had taken ten days – from the tip the cocktail waitress on The Rising Star had given Karl to getting back to Galactica just a few minutes ago – to get what he had and which Helo was in the process of securing. But it was worth it. Even if he ended up sporting another scar cutting through his eyebrow, it was worth it.

Now, all he had to do was contend with the cut above his eye that was in dire need of being cleaned, the soreness that was blooming along the right side of his body and the post-adrenaline rush that had settled in his groin. It always happened after a good fight – whether he was blasting Cylons out of the sky, going out on manoeuvres with the Marines or a two-against-'em-all fist fight – he always came away charged. Hell, it was one of the perks of putting one's life on the line – knowing that you lived through it. Contemplating some manual manipulation during a post-Op shower, a willing nurse from Life Station or something more – adventurous – all teased his mind, even as his vision blurred as he struggled to see what he was doing.

"FRAK!" The pad of gauze wadded between his fingers disappeared the closer left his hand got to his left eye.

Switching hands, he tried to lift his right arm high enough to each his face. Sucking air in over his teeth as the muscles underneath protested had him bracing both hands against the counter and ducking his head. Mentally gearing himself up to plough through the pain, a flash of something – someone – in the mirror had him jerking up his head.

Behind him, leaning casually against the inside of the hatch, was Starbuck. Hands crossed over her chest and a contemplative – but indulgent – look on her face had him busted. Staying where he was, his eyes followed movements as she pushed off of the doorway and sauntered in his direction. She was definitely a sight for a sore eye.

Well-washed, low slung sweat-pants draped along every feminine curve between her hips and her feet. Her favourite – and his – zip-up sweatshirt accentuated the well-toned womanliness that she wielded with as much deadliness as her side arm, Viper and tongue. Lingerie didn't – wouldn't – do her justice. It was too much 'advertising' for a 'product' that was already 'in demand'. But watching her making her way towards him, the wry expression on her face… that was pure Kara and the reason why he was now the only one in possession of the last…

"You know – that word has a way of getting around." Smirking at him in the mirror, she came along side him and turned; resting her backside against the counter, she boosted herself up and let her legs swing freely. "That's some shiner you've got there, Apollo."

Being busted was one thing, 'fessing up to what exactly happened was something entirely different. Setting the gauze down, he shifted from looking at the back of her head in the mirror to the green orbs taking in every inch of him. "Thanks. I was hoping to compete in the Mr. Black Eye competition tomorrow." Jaw twitching and the corners of his mouth following, "Think I stand a chance of making it into the 'Top Five'?"

Never one to hold back a truthful answer, she shook her head and rolled her eyes playfully. "See – the secret to a truly award worthy bruise is to make sure that you clot the wound as soon as possible so that all the blood stays underneath the skin." Her hand lifted and three fingers and a thumb rested against his chin and jaw as she tipped his head into the light. Pretending to 'evaluate' swelling that had set in, she 'grimaced', "But you – with you bleeding all over the place like you are – I'm not so sure I'd even bother showing up. Not when there could be other things you could be doing."

Going with the moment, he kept his neck loose and knees soft. A strong feminine hand lopped a couple of fingers through one of his belt loops and he let himself be tugged until he was standing between her knees. One of her sidelong smirks brought a light chuckle up from his chest as her right hand reached for the nearest hot water faucet. Waiting for the water to warm up, she picked up the abandoned wad of gauze.

Pulling him closer, he could see that Starbuck had been put away for awhile. In her place was Kara – just Kara. Who was wrapping around him the same essence of rightness that always enveloped them when they let 'them' be 'them'. There was no other place he wanted to be.

Dampening the pad and shaking off the excess water, she braced his chin with a feather-light touch. She didn't have to warn him that it was going to hurt; she should have told him that she was going to channel electricity every time she touched his skin with her fingers.

Millimetres away from his cut, she tapped the underside of his chin with her other hand. "Look up."

He didn't.

Undeterred, she dabbed at his cut. Grabbing a fresh pad and wetting at it, she moved his chin to the left and wagged a finger in the same direction. "Look that way for me."

He couldn't.

Focusing on a bit of dried something lodged in his eyebrow and watching her frown in concentration as she considered the best way to get it out, she rested her thumb on the centre of his chin and tilted his head down. "Look down for me."

That's when he looked up.

He had too.

Seeing her like this, with so few walls up – when would he get another chance? This moment was something he was going to need emblazoned onto his memory for when she next pushed his buttons or he walked away from her, pissed and cursing her name or the next time he was convinced that one of her beyond-insane ideas was going to end up with him delivering a eulogy at her bodiless funeral service. No matter which way she angled his head, his eyes lever left hers. Even as she tended to him and stayed on-task, his focus didn't stray for a second. Kara was always better with actions rather than words and every pat to his face came with silent declarations that he didn't need ears to hear.

Taking a chance, he spoke only loud enough to be heard but in way that was also 'them'. "What's the verdict?"

"You'll live. No transfusion – that's the good news." A mock-serious light bloomed in the apples of her cheeks. "But we should make sure you stay awake for a while longer. Wouldn't want you to slip away or anything like that."

Even Kara was a master of semantics. Inwardly ticking off another thing that fascinated him about her, he inched forward and let his hands rest each side of her waist. "No – we wouldn't want that to happen – would we?"

"It would be," her hands still gripping the edge of the countertop, her head leaned forward just a little bit forward as huskiness thickened her words. "It would be a very bad idea. Not to mention that would be such a waste of time."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not going anywhere – isn't it?" Tipping his head just a fraction more, all he could see were her lips and the beauty mark that adorned her cheek. Feeling her legs swing out and her heels wrap around the back of his knees to draw him even closer was all the go-ahead he needed to shift his hands from her waist to her back and fully enclose her in his arms. "And that you are going to make sure my eyes don't close for a second."

"That's for damn sure," she exhaled.

He felt her breath before he breathed in her air. Her hands moulded themselves to the contours of his shoulders before his firm lips fused to the pillowy softness that shielded her teeth. Her tongue stroked the top of his mouth and curled sensually forward before he sighed in release at his first true taste of Kara Thrace.

He had kissed someone before with his eyes open, but never for very long. Mostly because he didn't want anyone else to see what lay behind a pair of blue eyes that learned to keep the world at bay. But this… this was different. She was bolstering him – not daring him – to keep his eyes focused on her by keeping her own lids far apart. She was offering him a chance to step up and meet her as an equal by locking her green gaze onto his blue one. He could see the struggle between lust, passion and something she was fighting to keep repressed but express at the same time. It was like she was fighting herself to give him the one thing she wanted most from him. If Kara could at least make the effort, then who was he not to at least try? Drawing in another one of her breaths deeply into his body, he willed his eyes to be open and levelled the playing field. Mistakes with past loves surfaced and fell away as her air was expelled. Second guesses and insecurities about what would happen 'in the morning' ceased to flutter around his ears. Security in the moment, of sharing this kind of passion with another human being, had him gathering her in his arms and settling her so that as much of her was touching him as possible.

And it was far from one-sided. He knew the instant she got past her initial struggles and resurfaced to meet him, lick for lick, kiss for kiss, caress for caress. He knew because that was when Helo's words came rushing back at him as he connected to that little bit of himself that she had been meant to carry even as the little of her that made up his soul rejoiced in being reunited with all that made up the incredible woman doing the most arousing things to his body with only her lips, teeth, tongue and hands. The intensity was mind-numbing and heart-freeing and not for one moment did she not look at him. Even when a shadow of self-doubt loomed behind her eyes, he was 'there' to pick up on it and chase it away with carefully placed kisses to her temple, jaw, and a playful nip to the tip of her nose before seizing her lips again and picking up where they left off. More so, she was 'there' when uncertainty on his behalf as to what all this meant threatened to make him pull back. She speared her fingers through his hair and pulled his mouth more securely against her mouth in a sensual promise that told him that accepting the here-and-now would lead to the understanding he needed to fully process what was happening between them. That what they were doing was not some quick frak, nor was it declaration of undying love between two star-crossed lovers. Every gasp, moan, inhalation and caress was more than the sum of its parts yet every sensual gift that was exchanged mirrored the level of passion between Starbuck and Apollo, Lieutenant Thrace and Captain Adama and, ultimately, between Lee and Kara.

Breaking apart and coming together, kisses slowed and playfulness crept back into their faces. Lee knew he was sporting a goofy schoolboy grin and looking at Kara with her passion-stained lips and tinged cheeks, the way she didn't let go of his hands or revert back into Starbuck-mode sent his heart soaring.

"Come on – let's get out of here." Stepping backwards and feeling his arms stretch as her grip remained tight, he grinned and gave in. Closing in on her once again, he kissed her soundly and then spoke directly into her eyes, barely using his voice. "Come on – let's get out of here."

Feeling her nod than actually seeing her do it, he stepped back again. This time, he kept the connection between them as she slid off the counter and let him lead her out of the showers. Trailing behind him only because she didn't know where they were going and not because she had changed who she was just because they had come together, he couldn't resist looking back at her. Smiling, he tugged her forward until she was settled in front of him. His hands on her waist, he guided her with subtle pressure to her sides.

The sceptical look she gave him as he stopped them in front of the bunk room hatch was replaced with a nod of agreement when he brushed her ear with two words. "Trust me."

Swinging open the hatch and stepping through, he watched as she scanned the room and gave the all-clear signal. Lights were dimmed and anyone who was in their rack had their privacy curtains drawn shut. Crossing to her bunk, she toed off her shoes and left them there. Reaching for her own privacy curtain, she slid it all the way over – making it look like she was in it – before padding noiselessly to where he was unlacing his own boots. Something primal in him thumped the inside of his chest as he watched her duck into his rack and knowing that she was waiting for him, in his bed, brought a possessive glint to his eyes.

Straightening his curtains, the barest slivers of light highlighted the head and foot of his bed. Between the two was Kara. The sensation of the literal merging with the figurative as he took in the sight of her sitting where light permeated the darkness but not enough to drive away all the shadows that were cast against her soul underscored his emotions. Crawling silently across the mattress, he reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head in one smooth motion. Owning her sexuality, she put her fingers to the tab of her sweatshirt and slowly lowered the zipper. The two halves parted and revealed a pair of moon-blessed breasts.

Lying back, he snagged her hand and pulled her down with him so that they were skin-to-skin. Body heat radiated out from between them and the closeness of the bunk created a sex-perfumed, humid environment. Capturing her lips and her eyes, they both began anew – teasing, tasting, stoking, caressing, and committing contours to memory with every sensory aid they had between them. The quiet clinking of metal in his cubby hole and the motion of one of her arms drawing back niggled his mind but the sensation of her nails raking his left side all the way down to his belt chased the errant question away – especially when her nimble fingers opened the buckle, popped the top button and unzipped him. Lifting his ass as she skimmed off his pants, his own hands helped to push her sweats off of her hips and past her ankles. Reaching up to separate her from her panties, his fingers only found more moon-blessed skin dusted with the softest, finest hairs located in all the right places. Brushing her bangs out of her face, he blew gentle, sensual, 'tut-tut-tuts' between her chin and her forehead. Smothering her mirth, she stole whatever breath he was going to use to fuel her next onslaught of body-ravaging kisses.

Hearing her purr into his mouth and feeling her start to undulate on top of him, he shifted her slightly and in one seamless move, he spread her – exposing her puffed, slicked nubbin – and buried himself in her scalding sheath. The gasp that hissed out between her teeth was pure pleasure and mimicked the way he felt like he was never going to breathe again if it meant he could stay like this forever.

Gathering the strength to roll them over, her palms pressing against the rich muscles of his shoulders and upper arms stopped him.

"No. Like this, Lee." An incredible sensation of being sensually squeezed threatened to make his eyes roll to the back of his head. It was her strong-but-gentle fingers cradling his jaw that kept his focus on the quickening that fluttered underneath her skin and challenged her to keep her own eyes open. Locking her eyes with his, one more wall came down. "Stay with me, Lee."

Nodding, one hand snaked down to apply pressure to her backside – right where his fingers would be if she were lying on her back – just as she tightened herself around him again. A subtle arching of his hips was added to the downward pulsing the heel of his hand was tapping out, slowly driving him to the brink of the most sensual experience of his life. Kissing him with ardour, one of her hands discovered just how sensitive his nipples were and took to tweaking and twisting the pap in conjunction with her inner muscles contracting around him. Eyes locked onto each other as pleasure flowed, eddied and built, he added one more thing to the mix. Taking a queue from Kara, he started to flex his himself deep inside her. Not pumping, but flexing the muscles at the base of his cock so that when he pressed down on her and she squeezed him, he hit that sweet spot deep inside her. Sweat glistened on their bodies and hands were far from idle as he found a nipple of his own to pinch and roll. The challenge to stay connected, to prolong the experience, to reach that pinnacle that he always believed existed but never had the right partner to go there with, was there – he was standing on it, with her hand in his and her body intimately connected so that anyone looking down on them wouldn't be able to see where one started and the other began.

Rasping her words, Kara broke their kiss long enough to gasp, "Now, Lee!"

His arm that was pressing against the to middle of her ass pulled her even more tightly against his body and her squeezing took on the frantic pace of spasms as her orgasm spread from her inner thighs all the way to where her lips parted and she puffed her moans of pleasure all over his face. His flexing took on the sharp up-thrusts of a man who had been frakked within an inch of his life and would have gladly sacrificed that for the minutes of pure glory the flowed to every part of his body as he panted her name into the mouth he couldn't stop kissing. A second orgasm rocked her and nearly unseated Kara from her place, it was only his strong arms that kept her where she was as a small cry escaped her lips, her nipples contracted to pin-points and he was bathed in the joy her body wrought.

Too moved to speak, too sated to even contemplate disengaging, the sensual feeling of softening inside her triggered that primal part of him again and this time the possessive glint in his eyes transferred to the grip his arms had on the only woman to have ever been his match – or better – in every arena. Finding the last dregs of his strength to wrench his pillow underneath his head as a tousled blonde slipped a cushioning hand between his chest and her cheek, a golden sparkle caught his attention. It was a handful of cubits piled on top of one another.

"What was that for, Kara?"

A sleep murmur wafted up from below his chin, "For services rendered."

The peaceful lethargy that weighted his body was feeling the first licks of disappointment. Why did she have to pick now, of all times, to go all Starbuck on him? Couldn't he get Kara for just a little while longer?

"I see."

Driving the edge of her chin against his sternum was as deliberate as the look she gave him. Tilting her head to look at him, her jaw tightened slightly. "Evidently you don't." Freeing her hand from where it rested on his chest, she lifted it and traced the wound she had cleaned earlier. "Those were for this one – not for what just happened."

An offer for forgiveness was made in the way he dipped his neck and kissed her. Her answering kiss told him that she had issued him a pardon but that next time he wouldn't be so lucky.

Breaking off the kiss, the need to know had him tucking her against him and reaching for the blankets tangled underneath them. Spreading out the corners and more or less covering their rapidly cooling bodies, he asked, "How did you know?"

An easy smile teased his chest hairs. "Who do you think cleaned up Helo's knuckles?" A small quiet voice, completely incongruous to the wanton cries that came from the same mouth just moments before, spoke over his heart. "Thanks, Lee."

Sleep was closing in on him, but he held it at bay for a few more moments as he drew abstract patterns on her back. "It's one thing for you and me to do what we do to each other. You, Cally and Racetrack making what you did; me, Helo, Tyrol and Gaeta making that video – that's one thing. But for some sleazy bastard to reproduce pictures of you and think that he can circulate them throughout the Fleet – and make a profit while he's at it – without any one of us catching wind of it… There's no way that's gonna happen."

"Not to mention all the people I would be sending to Sickbay whenever…" Kara's voice trailed off as he kissed her words away.

"A Colonial Warrior's first priority is to protect the Fleet, not put its citizens in traction." Laughing earned him a swat to his stomach for making her head bounce just when she had gotten comfortable. Sobering and resting a hand between her shoulder blades, reassuring himself that it was her who was with him and not some vivid fantasy, he murmured, "Brat."

There was something more he wanted to say, but his heavy eyes and sated body stilled his tongue and he slept along with his best friend, worst enemy, resident gadfly, wingman and something more that he wasn't quite ready to admit to just yet, draped over his chest.

Bsg Xxx Bsg

Storage compartments came in every shape, size and location on Galactica. The storage compartment for the crew was generous, to say the least.

Elbowing the hatch open due to the box in his hands, Helo crossed the threshold and kicked the door shut. Making his way to the back of the room, he set the box down and pulled out a wide-tipped marker. Across the top flaps he scrawled out the word 'STARBUCK'. Reaching into his back pocket and pulling out the roll of tape he brought with him, the temptation to have one more look at the contents had him opening it back up and taking out what he and Apollo had spent the last ten days tracking down and securing.

Kara, Racetrack and Cally's little performance on The Rising Star spread like wildfire. For nearly a week afterward, that was all anyone talked about on almost all the ships in the Fleet. It wasn't until he and Lee had backtracked to The Rising Star as part of Roslin's security detail that the same cocktail waitress that Starbuck tipped so generously pulled him aside and told him that she heard that someone had found some pictures of Starbuck – from before the end of the worlds – and was planning on circulating the layout throughout the Fleet. One lead led to another, and tonight a last-minute trip to The Iolus had the two pilots, posing as 'merchants', engaged in a card game where the winner walked away with the 'circulation rights' to the pictures. One thing led to another, and someone somewhere cheated and that was when all Hades broke out. Tables were overturned, glasses were shattered and the jagged edges were used for weapons. It was he and Apollo against everyone in that room – and it was great! Not that he was a violent man, but sometimes it felt good to do manly things in a manly way, especially when doing it in the name of his best friend. A lull settled over the group as the players slowly picked themselves up; before they could re-group Apollo grabbed the box. Covering their 'six', he and Lee high-tailed it back to the Raptor and made it back to Galactica.

Separating at the hanger deck each made it to different heads to clean up.

That was when Starbuck walked in on him, carrying a portable med-kit and a bag of ice. Bandaging his hand, it wasn't long before she dragged the whole story out of him. That was when he showed her the pictures.

It was a copy of PADS, the popular Caprican Pyramid magazine. The way Starbuck's face darkened as she scanned the headline gave way to Kara's big, rounded eyes. One of the headlines ran: Home Court Advantage. Inside was a story about 'Up and Coming Kara Thrace'. The first shot was her, making a spectacular shot against an opponent nearly twice her size: she had elbowed the man in the kidney, kicked his feet out from underneath him and the shot had been of her, launching herself off of his stomach and, with a feral expression, sending the ball into the net. Turning the page, the subsequent pictorial was all of Kara – but Kara decked out in make-up, lingerie and splayed out in a series of four very provocative poses. From his point of view, the pictures were nothing to be ashamed of – she looked gorgeous. Her hail was longer, her face was softer and the shots were tasteful – with in reason. But it wasn't the kind of thing a warrior could be known for, and it wasn't who she was now. Listening to Kara fill in the gaps, she explained that she had done two photo-shoots for the magazine – one in her Pyramid gear and, at the photographer's suggestion, one in the skimpy clothes after being assured that the second shoot was at her coach's request. She had not idea that the pictures that were published were going to be the ones of her writhing on a bed. Even worse was the backlash that nearly cost her the starting position on her team. She was on the fast-track to the Pro's and that spread nearly cost her the tryout of her career.

Slipping the reproduction back into the box, he sealed it up. Thinking it was missing something, he uncapped the marker and scrawled two more words.

'FRAK OFF!'

Backtracking to the bunkroom, all was quiet.

Shedding his clothes and looking down at Starbuck's handiwork that protected his skinned knuckles, he chanced a look at her bunk. Her curtains were drawn and her shoes were piled by the foot of her rack. Scanning the room, specifically Apollo's bunk, something caught his eye. It was a pant leg, and it was too small and too short to fit someone the size of Lee Adama. In fact, it was the perfect size for…

Shaking his head, trying to purge the mental image of what was going on behind Apollo's privacy curtains, he couldn't resist tugging on the pants until they pooled in his hands. Crossing over to Starbuck's rack, he tossed them inside.

Yes, he was a good friend.

But even good friends could be devious and the anticipation over how a naked Starbuck was going to get to her bunk from Lee's without getting busted was enough to send him to bed with a smile on his face.

The End.


End file.
